Coffeebration

Monday, Apr. 29, 2002 – 11:12 am

About five minutes ago, the world as I had once known it was taken from me. For reasons to be explained further down, I will never be the same, feel the same, or be happy with myself again. OK — I’m exaggerating, but I am now consumed with great unhappiness. So I called myself a Gin Blossoms fan. I was ecstatic all day Saturday, ready to relive the tunes from one of my favorite 1996 bands THE GIN BLOSSOMS. The legend, making a debut return to the stage at IUP after 7 years of disbandment, what more could a girl ask for!!!! I am glad that I did not find out the terrible news until today, or my take on the entire performance would have been soiled … just as it is now. I never really noticed the disappearance of the GIN BLOSSOMS back in the day. I was too consumed with my love for Green Day, and life was just great then. The Gin Blossoms glided into my life, and exited silently … I was unaware of the tragedies that had occurred. So now I will share my despair and announce my ignorance to this life-altering event with the rest of the world, anyone who is reading this and loves the Gin Blossoms …. in our memories, 1993 will never be quite the same.

In 1993, the band exploded on the scene with their buzz bin hit, “Hey Jealousy.” Everything was Stellar: The band was riding high on the success of its album New Miserable Experience; it was on tour with the likes of Toad the Wet Sprocket and Del Amitri, and they were planning a tour of their own. Then their world came crashing down when lead singer Doug Hopkins committed suicide in December of 1993, leading to the break up of the band. But after a few years of healing, the Gin Blossoms reunited with a new singer and are embarking on a national tour this summer.” — The Penn, by Jen Lucas.

I am not really sure I understand everything. At the concert, GB said they had been apart for 7 years, by calculation … 1995 would have been their year of demise. Ok, I just read that they disbanded in 1997. They had a CD out in 96, but the songs we all know and love are from the 1992 Gin Blossoms. So Doug Hopkins (deceased) was the singer for New Miserable Experience, and he also wrote and sang “Hey Jealousy” and “Found Out About You.” Robin Wilson … current lead singer, was the lead singer since 1992 — but he is not the guy who recorded the “New Miserable Experience” Album, however, GB was on tour for most of 94-95, and Robin was on that tour and has been the lead singer of GB since then. HERE is a link, this site is great, it has like 899 articles about Gin Blossoms, dating back to like 1987. Def a must for all you hard-core GB fans! So I guess it is still semi-original Gin Blossoms, but not really. OK UPDATE: Everything I just said was completely wrong, Robin was always the lead singer, the dead guy just wrote some songs and played guitar. Robin Wilson wrote Allison Road, which happens to be my fave GB song, so its all ok now!

Jamie and Julie livin’ it up in the rain at the Gin Blossoms concert!

Besides the shocking GB news, my day has been ok, although it is only 11:30AM. I terminated two classes today, which made me feel pretty good. I took my last Management test today … the class I have been struggling most with all semester. I needed an 82.6 on the test to get a B for the class …. and I am not really sure how I did. I think I did okay, and will hopefully get a B, but not 100% on that. The class is not really hard, and I do well on the math part of the tests, but I just don’t get the concepts or really know what I am doing. I have never really felt confused like this before, and I feel that I did not grasp the “big picture” in the class. Well, I am not a management major, and I did very well in my other management class last semester, which was Business Management. This class is Production and Operations management, and we learn about assembly lines and raw materials. I do not think I will ever be a supply manager, so as long as I get the business concept of management, and I have average knowledge of dumb management, I think I’m set for life!

I turned in my Physics paper today, and I also got my “estimated” grade, assuming I turn in a paper. I am 99.9% sure he is not going to read the papers, because he has to have them all back to us by May 3 — this Friday …. there is 60+ people in the class, and the papers were a minimum 10 pages. So my grade is a 95.3, so I am assured that I am getting an A, because I turned in a paper, and it has content. I should have gone with my intuition — filling 10 pages up with random letters, but there is a chance that he might look at it, so I actually wrote something. I did not mind because I like to write. It just makes me angry that I put effort into it, and people who didn’t will probably get the same grade. Whatever though, and A is an A and that is really all that matters.

Well, today is over — in terms of classes, and I have eliminated two from the stress-factor. I got a total of 3 hours of sleep because the insomniac monster has come back. He has been around for about 2 weeks now. For about a month I was sleeping like a normal person, I should have known better than to expect the pattern to endure finals week. I have to turn in my take home final for my Investments class tomorrow, and I am only about half done with it. I really underestimated the effort I was going to have to put forth to achieve correct answers. There is a lot of math on the test, and I am really unsure of how to do some of it. It is likely due to my poor attendance … but I seriously cannot get up for my 8am classes ….. especially during the periods of insomnia. I fall asleep between 4-5AM and it is coma time. I hear nothing — alarm clocks, phones, tornados, fires … all oblivious to me in my state of unconsciousness. I need to take a nap in the worst way, but I think I will work on some Investments until I can no longer breathe.

There was a tornado here last night and I hope it didn’t kill any more Gin Blossoms. I saw footage on the news last night of a house, some garages, and a barn that were destroyed in rural Indiana. Brian told me the Holiday Inn (where GB stayed) was damaged, but I have not heard any confirmation. I was really scared and had no power. It went out while I was studying last night and the wind was howling again. I was in fear of my life. But I’m alive. Viva la vida. It’s time to do some serious something.

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